When do we expect the possibly final expansion?

I assume you mean the expansion after MoP, which has no chance of being the last one.

I expect we'll see it around Q2 of 2014. Certainly neither Q4 of next year or as late as Q1 of 2015. They are getting content out faster, not slower. Having 5.4 around for that long with nothing new goes against their content flow for MoP.

i was under the impression Blizzard intended only to do 5 expansions unless that's changed. WoW could continue without expansions by adding smaller regular DLC, possibly monthly. Otherwise it's just gonna discourage new people to hit lvl 150 if they keep raising the cap

i was under the impression Blizzard intended only to do 5 expansions unless that's changed. WoW could continue without expansions by adding smaller regular DLC, possibly monthly. Otherwise it's just gonna discourage new people to hit lvl 150 if they keep raising the cap

Blizzard never once said they intended only 5 expansions. I honestly don't see how you can get that assumption. They've already said they planned out the next 3 expansions out.

"Facts", brought to you by Jaylock.

Originally Posted by Jaylock

Its not a matter of opinion when FACTS back up the fact that this is one of the best expansions they have ever created.

You could make expansions without increasing level cap Im pretty confident they did not think it was necessary to try and "plan" futher ahead than 5 expansions. They also had no idea how big the game would get so fast (if you played in vanille you know this by all the server issues and migration to new realms).

Originally Posted by Runecapeman

I try not to post anywhere anymore, due to fear of being infracted. Feels like there are too many mods that aren't screened well enough. "Dirty cops" if you will.

i was under the impression Blizzard intended only to do 5 expansions unless that's changed. WoW could continue without expansions by adding smaller regular DLC, possibly monthly. Otherwise it's just gonna discourage new people to hit lvl 150 if they keep raising the cap

You're incorrect, that was never the plan. Someone posted a so-called outline of 5 expansions after WOTLK was announced, claiming it was from 2004, which might be where you're getting that from. In any case it's a proven fake not just because it's been completely inaccurate past WOTLK but because the person who made it outright admitted it.

Blizzard has no plans to stop making expansions and it would make no business sense if they did as WoW is still extremely profitable - far more than any other MMO. They plan 3 expansions in advance as well, which would be a strange practice if there was only supposed to be 5. I can see 10 more expansions easily, by which point we'll be coming up to WoW's 20th anniversary. Past that point it's hard to say.

Disclaimer: No I'm not Alliance. I reserve the right to bat for both factions thank you very much.

My buddy is convinced the next one is it too but as stated on WOWInsider, never in the history of mankind has a company discontinued a product that was bringing in $100M/month. That would be the biggest mistake in gaming history. Even with half the population the game is still bringing in $50M/month and I'm sure that more than makes up the cost to make and run the game.

I think in the long run they'll need to add something for new players to allow them to catch up faster (much like the monk exp bonus), but there will be more expansions. Someone mentioned getting a free character at min level for the expansion (ie 85 for MOP), which I think would be cool.

Well to put it this way. The estimated plan for a player base in vanilla was 500K to 1M players, Max. This would allow blizz to be profitable enough to keep the game running (server costs) as well as produce new content (staff costs).

So as long as there are 500K active players, I'd expect there to be more and more expansions.

Look at everquest. about 1/8th the amount of wow players (if not less) and they've had 22 expansions.

Well to put it this way. The estimated plan for a player base in vanilla was 500K to 1M players, Max. This would allow blizz to be profitable enough to keep the game running (server costs) as well as produce new content (staff costs).

So as long as there are 500K active players, I'd expect there to be more and more expansions.

Look at everquest. about 1/8th the amount of wow players (if not less) and they've had 22 expansions.

Indeed, just look at Eve online, going strong since 2003 with around 500 k /+/- some

Originally Posted by Runecapeman

I try not to post anywhere anymore, due to fear of being infracted. Feels like there are too many mods that aren't screened well enough. "Dirty cops" if you will.

Well to put it this way. The estimated plan for a player base in vanilla was 500K to 1M players, Max. This would allow blizz to be profitable enough to keep the game running (server costs) as well as produce new content (staff costs).

So as long as there are 500K active players, I'd expect there to be more and more expansions.

Not exactly. At 2.35% inflation (the average for the last 10 years), the new minimum subscriber base would be approximately 630,737 for World of Warcraft. Also, if the company spirals towards that number, stock price, etc could be affected significantly, making the company a target of mergers and takeovers. Ownership shakeups have the possibility of killing profit margins, as the new company tries to gouge profit from a product in decline. Increased profit-taking demands from the new ownership or investors would also raise the necessary minimum subscription rate.

I doubt they'll ever label an expansion their "final" one, given it would be official confirmation that the game has run its course. Given the nature of an MMO, it would kill a huge amount of interest in the game.

Unless they were pulling a Guild Wars and making a WoW2, but even then, they didn't (to my knowledge) ever label EotN as the "final" expansion when it shipped.

Not exactly. At 2.35% inflation (the average for the last 10 years), the new minimum subscriber base would be approximately 630,737 for World of Warcraft. Also, if the company spirals towards that number, stock price, etc could be affected significantly, making the company a target of mergers and takeovers. Ownership shakeups have the possibility of killing profit margins, as the new company tries to gouge profit from a product in decline. Increased profit-taking demands from the new ownership or investors would also raise the necessary minimum subscription rate.

The final Warcraft expansion is a long way off yet-- likely years. As long as it remains profitable, they will continue to create content and expansions.

Okay seriously. Is the concept of "The story is over, we're putting it to rest now even if the franchise could still make money off of an ongoing main series" really such a hard one for WoW players to see? Why is the overwhelming opinion "they gonna do it till it cant make no mo' money"?

I mean, granted, they -could- prolong the series and milk it out but why does the possibility of that instantly mean "100% proof" to some people?